Podcast. Okay, all right, let me start this over. Hello,
everybody, welcome to Games Your Dark Episode one hundred and twenty seven. Now
a sound, now, a sound that'll make no sense for the audio listeners.
I'm your host this week, John Luke Psike, and I'm joined by
an all star cast. I got Michael p Him what a dude, baby.
I have Aaron Sampson. Who have you been on this podcast before?
Probably not, but I have been a game spot for a really long swinging
by and say hi, I was in the background. I wasn't even born
by when Aaron started working here ancient times. Uh. And then I'm also
joined by another newcomer, Uh, Tom Caswell, Tom, how's it going?
It's go Live from New York, The Life from New York. It's
it's uh, it's Friday. It's Thursday afternoon. It feels like a Friday's
it feels like a Friday. I am so excited that we can talk about
this game just so like it's it's done. There's no more like things hanging
in the air. It's all out there now. We can Yes, we
have ninety nine percent of things. We can just talk about it. So
I'm really excited thank you for having me, of course, absolutely. So.
Yeah, it's it's a pretty big, pretty big week because Starfield came
out, and uh so I just had to put together an all star crew
to chat about it. Lucy and Tam are not here. They're at packs.
Jake has also at packs. If we' wondering where the usual crew is,
so they're they're off gone. I'm sure, Well they'll be back next
week and they'll give their thoughts. But I'm actually pretty pretty happy with the
crew. We have to talk about it because obviously we have Michael who you
reviewed the game, Yeah, I did. You could probably check out that
score, uh and you should check out the whole review. Just look at
the score. Look, scores make up the review. And yet is what
exactly it's too real? Want to address Poka cramme and the chat real quick?
They ask spoiler free? I assume we're not having any just spoilers.
Yeah. No, it's also kind of a hard thing to I mean,
we'll talk about like our personal experiences, but you can kind of talk about
it in a way where it's it's yeah, we can try to stay away
from like super specific. Yeah, we're not gonna try and detail like story
specifics. Those alien yeeks are clapped up. I haven't gone to that point.
Yeah. Wow, Mod's already came out. I guess Wow, great
net that is going to be a mom thing, isn't oh guaranteed? Okay,
it's for another time. Yeah, we'll see that, like where's my
clean alien faces Mod. We're also joined by Aaron, who I wanted to
have you on because you've probably had the most like buggy experience with Starfield.
Yeah. I think it's just like an interesting person. So for context,
like every like we got like like ten codes for the office, Like a
ton of people have been playing it, so we've had a really wide range
of I would say, like opinions and viewpoints on the game. Michael,
I think you and may are kind of maybe on the same page. Aaron,
I think you're even like lower, to be fair, like how we
felt about it, to be fair, like for some reason, when I
play games, they like to break. Yeah, I like to break games.
So I don't know how much of it was, like where do you
want to start? Do you want to start by talking about I can get
into bugs. It's it's it's interesting because I think most people's experience has been
like relatively bug free, especially compared to I would say bug free but standard
inoffensive bug games. Yeah, exactly, Like my ship didn't break, thankfully,
but I saw some I saw some floating eyeballs, saw some missing hair.
A lot of people go in bold and get growing their hair back within
minutes. It's crazy, but largely I think, you know, just to
kind of like lay it out there, it's like maybe I think, I
think, at least for me, this is the most polished but as a
game that I've played, and that's that might not be saying much, but
at least, you know, I was able to like reload saves or reboot
the game. It was straight. I probably had like maybe three crashes.
I played on all systems and played fifty five hours. And like, yeah,
I'll take that. I'll take that as a w from the from a
technical perspective, that's aw right there. I'm gonna blame it on my mom
in the game. My mom in the game game. So I was talking
to my dad in the game. You can have a dad in a mom
in the game. It's the thing that's crazy. Yeah, And so I'm
talking to my dad, He's like, I do a nice to have you
home, and I turned to my mom and my mom is a floating set
of eyeballs with a bean for a brain. I think it was. I
think that was the brain. So that was Was it a hair tie or
scrunch We're trying to figure it out. It was just this a floating little
thing like above her eyeballs. So we were like, what is that?
Welcome? Who's that? Was? Like? Okay, so yeah, I
just it was weird on Xbox and then that bug kind of went out.
You I think you saw this one. We're like, you went out and
that carried out to the world for a couple of saves. Yeah, yeah,
so yeah, we hit the floating eyeball bug from like a sass grade
at one. Yeah, that should sick. I like those kinds of bugs,
especially the fun they're like, yeah, like, oh the build's character.
You know. We had just Eve Space. We had one on the
stream and we live streamed earlier on the game spot YouTube channel. You can
go watch the VOD of that over at YouTube belt com Forward slash game Spot.
We had one. Obviously, this was post patch, like this is
essentially the launch build of the game, and I was playing in first person
and someone in chat was like, and we see it in third person.
I was like sure, So I pressed the button to switch the third person
and my head had caved in. It was almost like I had like a
reverse like it was like I've been pushed in, so it was inside my
body because there seemed to be like a puckering like little hole at the neck,
and then my arms were kind of like inside each other like this.
For audio listeners, that kind of twisted up, and that would have been
fine to play, but I couldn't move the character and the only thing that
would fix it would be going back to first person, at which point I
guess like everything like went back as it was, So there's gonna be even
stuff for people playing. I'm sure. I'm sure this isn't the last we've
seen of the bugs. I don't think it's a thing exclusive to people playing
it during the review period. Yeah. Yeah, It's definitely one of those
things where mileage is going to vary. So you know the fact that I
had a fairly like really smooth technical experience, again, Aaron did it.
A bunch of other people out there probably or not either, And some people
will be like, yo, you you skate off bug free by it,
you know what I'm saying. So it's just it's just a look of the
cards. I guess, like you said this, most of them just resolving
with the reload. Yeah, and that's like I'll take that again. Yeah,
it's fine. Yeah, absolutely, Why don't we want it back a
little bit? Uh? And for people who have not had a chance to
check out your review, Michael, oh sure, why don't you give kind
of a summary of your thoughts on Starfield as a whole. Uh, Starfield
is high highs or well, let me walk that back. There's some highs
and some lows with it, and overall I landed on a seven. It
was it was kind of like wrestled with how I felt overall about the game.
But there was a lot. There are a lot of things I had
fun with, and I think some of the highlights for me were there's bet
Aza games. You look for the side quests, the emergent content that you
might stumble upon along the way, and there's some really cool stuff out there,
like the I think that a lot of people are gonna be talking about
the Crimson Fleet side quest, and I know, Tom you're doing a lot
of content around that and I think it's worth checking out because it is probably
one of the most interesting pieces of content Starfield. And I think it's one
of the best quest lines that Bethsa's done in a while. And there's I
think that quest line is emblematic of the things that Starfield does well, like
firefights and shooting and you know, like I said in my review, it's
not gonna be on the Destiny two level of you know, feel of gun
play, but I think the it's I had a lot of fun with the
shooting mechanics of the game, and I think there's a lot of ton of
a ton of fun weapons to tinker with, especially as you start collecting more
different guns with a bunch of different attachments and different stat boosts. In a
way, it's almost like, well an RPG with the like different different perks
and they fire in differ ways all of the other stuff, and you can
tinker with them at the work bench if you have the crafting materials. But
anyway, I really enjoyed the shooting mechanics of this game, and that's not
something I necessarily expected going into It's like, oh, but that's a you
know, they'll they'll make a make up for it in other ways, But
I actually think that is the highlight of this game, not so much the
RPG elements, because the more and more I start to poke at the world,
the more I realized that, you know, a lot of quests are
kind of on a track, and you know there are variations along the way
with the different responses that you can do. But I think overall, I
felt that the end results for most of these quests all led to the same
conclusion. May there's variations on you make a final decision and you'll side with
one character or the other, and you'll keep it moving. You're gonna move
on with your life across the galaxy. So the more and more I start
to poke at what how reactive the game is to the decisions that I made,
the less and less I saw in terms of how dynamic it's RPG systems
can be. And that's like kind of disappointing when I look at other because
the RPGs that I've played I mentioned that, you know, more Away in
Oblivion and Skyrim are some of my favorite RPGs still and followed New Vegas,
which is by Obsidian, are kind of like those high water marks for this
style of RP and overall, when I look at Starfield, it feels like
a game that was built for quantity and not not necessarily quality. So you'll
find a lot of quests, you'll find a lot of content to get involved
in, and you'll fall down a lot of rabbit holes and you'll probably find
some really cool stuff along the way. But overall, as a cohesive whole,
when I look at the main quest and what that has to say about
the rest of that world and how it kind of funnels you through the rest
of Starfield's galactic adventure, there's a lot it's it's pretty weak in that regard,
and I think, you know, I wouldn't mind so much if you
know other Bethza RPGs, where it's like, hey, we're just going to
give you a main story to be a thing to introduce you to the rest
of the world and so you can poke at what you think is interesting along
the way. Where Starfield tries to have this, uh, this really like
thoughtful story that kind of say extols the virtues of science and discovery and humanity's
place in space, but I think it's it's I would say it's poorly written
in a way where characters don't necessarily they don't sell me on the fact that
you know, I made this great discovery or we found this supernatural thing that
completely changes the way we view humanity, whatever, and just like, hey,
that's crazy, all right, Now get to the next quest and collect
this next artifact. So there's a level of detachment from the actual like believability
of the world. And of course, you know space sci fi three hundred
years in the future, there's gonna be things where you have to you have
to make that logical leap to build out that sci fi world. That's fine,
all the bunch of other games do it too, That's not what I'm
What I'm getting at is like it doesn't take the time to put that care
into building its world in a believable way. And then so the main story
falls flat. And I think that because it's it's not a great vehicle for
the rest of the story. It feels like I'm getting involved in a lot
of a bunch of disjointed quests and stories along the way. So then when
I took a step back, I'm like, yeah, I really enjoyed a
lot of those side quests I love. I really enjoyed you know, shooting
my way through those big firefights and blasting fools with my with all these weapons
that I built up, and zipping around with my jet pack. Oh,
the jet pack is so sick in this game. But then I'm like,
what form, Like, what what is it that I'm like working for?
What is it that I'm building in this game? And it's like more or
less a checklist style of RPGs. How I came away with it? Yeah,
and that's fine, that's like, yo, that there's a lot of
fun to be had in those kinds of games. But that is what Starfield
is to me. So but yeah, that's a long winded way to summarize
my thoughts. There's a bunch of other things, a lot that I get
I get involved in with my review, but yeah, it's probably really important
to talk about, like like a lot of the reason why you go down
that path and that game is because it doesn't like this change started I think
around fall Out four where like John Luke and I did the same thing and
fall Out for we both tried to play it like fall Out three where we
just you know, wandered off into the world and ignore the first person that
you saw and then like you know, twenty hours later wondered what was wrong
with me? Or like what am I doing? Why am I not finding?
Why am I not having a fun time like wandering around and not finding
anything, and that that formula repeats here where it's like, no, you
really do have to do the first thing that they want you to do,
even if it doesn't the game doesn't really like well New Vegas, right,
you were talking about the map design in New Vegas. Yeah, when we
were just sitting down, how there's a mountain that like forces you to do
the first thing and then the world opens up. This one does the fall
Out fourth thing where just opens up the world real quick, but no,
you really do need to do the main quest to like get that anchor and
understanding of Yeah, it's like it's like the game's sense of scale kind of
works against it where it wants you to go in any direction and it's impressive
and you're like whoa, but like without it, it's really hard to like
find something interesting, like you know, like the game has interesting stuff,
but then you're just like, oh, I'm just gonna go in this random
direction and liked my first couple hours were like I think this game has like
a bad introduction. I think the the intro, like the intro intro is
like maybe the weakest of all the Bethesta games. It lacks like that,
Like every Bethesta game has that, Like you know, they'll have the tutorial
and then you like leave the tutorial and it has that like ooh moment where
you're like, you know, and oh, I can't I've rubbing my hands
like bird Man is shit. It's like, oh, I can't wait to
go there. I'm gonna check yeah out. I know the main question is
there, but I'll get to it because I want to see what's there.
And this game doesn't have that, which is kind of weird because like it
tries to because at the beginning of the game, you're in a mine and
then you like leave the mind and there's a moment where like the door opens
up and it like plays has a musical sting that's supposed to be like I
just like leaving the vault for the first time, but then you're just like,
yep, I'm now outside the mine. Yeah, Okay. It's really
weird, and it's because this game is not one giant map. It's a
bunch of smaller maps. Connected together, and I think that is for me.
Uh it feels like it is a they just find it that way because
like it because it probably couldn't. It feels like a technical limitation as well.
It's just like an understandable like you know, you can you spend a
lot of this game fast traveling. Yeah, and you kind of have to
because otherwise it would be like really boring to just like manually go everywhere.
But because you can't just manually go everywhere, it like lacks that like that
sense of discoveries. Yeah, that sense of discovery that I think make that
that's the game so much fun where it's like you know, oh you see
that mountain, you can go to that and it's like supermutants are there.
You know, they have a whole society. There's almost I'm getting quests and
dialogue trees that are like leading me down a certain path that I want to
keep digging into. Yeah, have that it. Yeah, it kind of
lacks that in a weird way. It's bizarre. And then because it's just
so open ended and you can technically like go anywhere on the map, like
I said, you you kind of it's easy to like not find the fun
stuff. Like my opening hours, I was like, Okay, I'll do
some quests and like the first person I met was like, hey, you
want to go get me a cup of coffee? Like literally like go get
me a cup of and I was like, sure, this has got to
lead to something good. And this is like in the opening, uh,
you know, the main hub, the new Atlantis, a big city and
like where the game kind of makes you go at the very very beginning.
And I was like all right, like sure, what'll this lead to?
And then like I went and got him a cup of coffee. I came
back and they said piece that was the quest and I was like, oh,
okay, and like it was you know I just like I was like,
man, like where's the It feels like it didn't it needed to like
put more of its like best foot forward and really like shove all the good
stuff in front of you or like like like the pathing to get you to
that stuff feels exist. Yeah, that's the That's the frustrating thing is that
it because there is really good stuff there. There is there is absolutely good
stuff there. And one of the best things I don't think there's too much
of a spoiler one of the best things you can do is just like get
arrested in the game. So like that's all you baby, Yeah, all
right, I'm just gonna say, get arrested in the game. It's a
really cool question line. And I think we're both trying to sort of break
the game a little bit to see what you get away, right yeah.
Yeah, yeah, and you would maybe like doing a little bit of crime
and that's a treat. Yeah yeah. And that's when the most interesting thing
happened in the first like a couple of days I played the game. Oh
yeah, it's because the game led you. There's what you're talking about.
The game led you there, right, Yeah, you did something and had
a consequence and then it kicked off like something pretty significant in the game.
But I how would you know to have done that? Yeah, Like you
just would have missed it if you've been if you've been playing the game.
And in theory, I don't mind like cool emergent moments like that, like
those can feel special when they happen. The problem is that you just like
you don't know if it's going to be a cool emergent moment or if it's
gonna like be pretty lame and uninteresting. Yeah, yeah, like you know,
they're this is continuing that tradition that Pathesta kind of started with a sky
rim, where it's like you have the sort of infinite small quests that are
just like oh god, yeah, you know, fetch quests or go do
this, so many of them and there's so many of them, and it's
like they're doing it to kind of like fill out the world, and but
you're just like, man, like, where's the I just want to do
like a fun one for once, you know, and it could be hard
to to like differentiate the between them, like you just don't know. No,
he doesn't say like this system is interesting. You just get a random
name, yeah, and then you jump in. Just sometimes something really cool
happen. Sometimes something cool happens, yeah and so and then sometimes you're just
like, yep, I scan some rocks that was cool, yeah totally,
or got a flip bunch of switches for somebody, but I mean sick,
I got a couple of credits and kept a pushing. So so your mileage
is going to vary when as you start to try to see what's out there.
But I mean some of the more interesting things are marked, like the
factions. You'll know what a faction quest line is because it'll mark it in
your quest log and be like, oh, this is the Freestar Collectives.
Yes, icon, this is the Crimson Fleets. Yeah, I think there's
a faction tab. Yeah, there's a faction tab for Yeah, those are
always worth checking out. And then but otherwise it's a it's kind of a
hit, hit or miss. Yeah. As you kind of go through all
the other things that are just like happing around, you'll stumble across across conversations
and then the thing will pop up and say, hey, go talk to
this person or go here because someone had mentioned it. And more often than
not, those are not interesting, I would say, But there's yeah,
there's there's just all the high volume of things to check out in this game.
So you know, I reviewed the game, but I have not seen
everything, right, I don't think there is a reviewer at there who has
technically seen everything. So yeah, and I think in that regard there will
be some variation in terms of the impression that people get in there. I
don't know their play through honestly, So yeah, Tom, Tom who's here
trying to play the whole thing is a pirate like, you role played a
pirate? How did that? How did that play out? How's that going?
Oh no, sorry you muted. I muted myself because some noise and
that was like ten minutes ago. Uh yeah, no, I play I
played as a pirate. We've got a cool video series coming up on YouTube
showing off some of the coolest missions, you know that it's it's kind of
like and I think we're also doing a video that's like how to have fun
in the game, which is not as bad as it sounds, but like
just directing people my series. I think, honestly, like I really wonder
with this game if there's going to be stuff like a year later that is
like a really hidden quest in a far off system that's gonna be amazing,
like even topping the Crimson Fleet stuff, which you know we've mentioned. But
I think for all of the initial cool moments that you can have in the
game, I have found a lot of them, and I've just been very
lucky to have kind of oh that there's a derelict ship in space, Like
did either any of you experience the armored transport where the gravity is turning on
and off? Oh no, oh oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah,
it's a ship. It's like a it's a ship in the New atlant
the Alpha Centauri system, which is where New Atlantis says. It's like one
of the it says Damos armored transplant. It clicks on that and you go
into the ship and it's being attacked by pirates. And this was before I
like teamed up with the Crimson Fleet, and so you're fighting them in regular
gravity, but a solar flare had hit the ship, so it's it's systems
keep going on and offline. So you're in the middle of like a fight
on the ground and then all of a sudden, the gravity turns off and
you're all floating in mid am. All the objects and all of the coffee
cups and all of that is also floating, and it'll last for like thirty
seconds and then everything crashes to the ground again. And it keeps doing that.
And to get through the ship and to find all of the hidden bits
of loot, you have to use this you're a gravity to get to places
that you otherwise couldn't And it's this awesome like thing that you just like,
Unless you just say I'm gonna go to that ship, you're you're gonna miss
I would say that the I would say that A big the elephant in the
room where in gaming right now in comparison to Staffield, is Boulder's Gate.
And I played so much of Boulder's Gate and coming you know, this is
this series I'm talking about that I'm putting together. It's something that I've actually,
like, I've spoken with Aaron about it for a long time, Like
I was like, I'm really going to get in and like role play,
and there is a lot of that, but especially compared to Bold's Gate,
it is very rigid in what it allows you to do. For an example,
there were two factions in the beginning of the game that I ran into
and I kind of was playing the mediator between the two, like negotiating terms
and things like this, and to one of the leaders of the faction,
they I kind of decided, all right, I'm not going to team up.
I'm done with them, Like I'm not going to team up with them,
but I'll tell them that I'm gonna go like screw over the other people
just so like like so they trust me and like then we can turn it
around, right, Something that boulders Gate three would let you do all the
time, and I go to the other faction and I want to there to
be an option that's like we're gonna go take over their thing, like you
know, but I had been locked into the choice I made with the other
person, and I couldn't deviate from what I had told the other faction I
do. And I was like, that seems like that seems like a pretty
basic thing to allow you to do another one being I wanted to. There
was an area and someone wanted to like undermine the big boss of the area
by doing some sneaky shit behind their back, and I was like, I'm
gonna go rat you out. I'm gonna go like currfe with the boss and
tell them that you're like running this business under their nose. And when I
went to go find that person, I didn't have any dialogue options available to
me to do that. And like, especially coming fresh off of Boulder's Gate,
like those opportunities are created all the time. So for me, I've
had a lot of fun with Staffield. I think I've been very lucky to
primarily like I haven't touched any of the main quest stuff where it feels sounds
like it's very iffy on quality with like the storytelling and stuff, so I've
only really experienced the good stuff. But still, like I I find myself
so disappointed with how big this game is but how narrow it's kind of focus
is, and in like this is still this is a Beeta. This is
not the future of Bethesda. This feels like the last gasp of their like
og game design, going back to fall Out three and like the Oblivion Oblivion
and Morrow Winds and stuff. It feels like that formula pushed to the absolute
limits rather than it being like a revolutionary step that they're taking forward. And
I'm just really, I mean, I know this is far in the future,
but like older Scrolls, six cannot just be this again, you know,
like it they really are going to need to shake it up because if
there is so much about this game that feels very stale in twenty twenty three,
when we have so many RPGs that really do feel like they're pushing the
medium forward, like Boulder's Gate for example. So yeah, I'm I'm high
on it. I'm enjoying it. I'm definitely going to play more because I
am really curious if there's like missions that are really like hidden in the far
off planets and like, once you get to certain levels, how that is.
But I totally agree with anyone that has any a little bit more of
a not as high of an opinion, and I agree. Reading Michael's review,
I'm like, yep, I feel that, I feel I feel that.
So yeah, I think I think you're like your your evaluation of the
limitations of the RPG system is spot on, and I in a way it's
like, hey, I couldn't have said it better myself. I spent three
thousand words explaining my opinion on that game, But you really hit the nail
on the head where this game has you on a set track. You make
a decision like early on, and that's what it's going to roll with.
Your dialogue options are Yes, I agree, I agree, but I'm going
to be mean to you and I'm just going to be a straight asshole.
But I'm gonna do what you asked me to do anyway, or I'm leaving
this conversation and I'll come back to it later. So and like, yeah,
I'm not out here comparing it to Balder's Gate, But at the same
time, RPGs have moved on since fall Out four to be or yeah,
fall Out four, to be honest, which was a twenty fifteen game,
and Starfield does feel like an extension as you said, it is like that
Fallout four design philosophy pushed to be even bigger and wider, but not any
more deeper than it was back then. And so since then, you know,
we've had games like which or three, We've had a bunch of like
a resurgence of Japanese RPGs, and like, you know, let's say,
in Final Fantasy fourteen, you know what I'm saying, very different game,
but it's kind of like, Hey, we're an MMRPG, but we are
at we are thinking outside the box and we are carving our own place in
the history of RPGs with this thing that we're doing, whereas Starfield doesn't like
necessarily commit to a philosophy to help it stand out. Rather just like,
hey, there's got fucking hundreds of planets, bro take your pick, hopefully
running something I don't know, maybe it's another mining facility or a robot facility,
who knows. So yeah, there's the limitations of this style of RPG
come through very fast and are prevalent throughout the experience. And that's not to
say that there aren't interesting things to find along the way. As we have
mentioned, there's some really dope side quests, but I'm not I'm not going
in role playing necessarily, I Am no. Yeah, I'm like doing this
quest and hoping that I got a cool firefight or I got a cool little
story that comes out of it. And so yeah, there's there's and we'll
talk about like how you mentioned how disjointed it feels to actually explore this place,
but also it feels like the actual questing I'm doing is also disjointed.
Yeah, and that there's not feeding into a sense of purpose or an understanding
of the galaxy that Starfield has kind of envisioned for us. Well, yeah,
and I think that's kind of where because for me, I think I'm
more like when when the writing fell in the RPG, like elements felt a
little weak in terms of how you can role play situations, I was kind
of expecting that because to me, I'm like, butthesta's kind of always been
like that, you know, Like, I think writing has never been their
strong suit, but the strengths have been like the map design and the world
building and like that sense of exploration, and I think a lot of people
like that about it, and I think, like people will enjoy that element
of this, but I do still think because it's so disjointed, it feels
weaker than any other bethetistic game. Like you're taking one of the core aspects
of this style of RPG and you're just taking taking it away and replacing it
with something that doesn't necessarily make up for it in any way. I mean
that's like damn, Like I really can't express like how much time you're spent
like in a menuns game, just and badly designed menus like people do.
I don't. I don't know anyone who genuinely like has enjoyed like inventory management
in a beathetistic game. I think everyone like tolerates it, yeah, and
uh like, but it's so bad in this one, Like it's just so
clumsy and and I feel like I am constantly like running up against like I'm
at inventory space, give it that stuff to my companion or put it in
my like you know, uh, my ship partment. My favorite thing with
inventory space is you have so many places to put stuff and they'll just progressively
get filled, so you're like, oh, my body is full, I
have to go put stuff on my ship. Oh no, my ship is
full. I'll give it to my there full. I'll go to my outposts.
My outpost is full, like you know, I got home. Absolutely.
Yeah, you're just dumping stuff like constantly. It's just crazy. Well,
so, like, the reason you're picking up all this stuff, though,
is because a lot of the systems in the game are require you to
use those resources, and they all require different resources, like even even weapon
modding, like I kind of wanted to just be able to rip mods off
weapons and build. No, it's the Fallout four system of like you're picking
up junk to like, you know, uh, turn that junk into other
stuff like and I hated that about Fallout four to be honest, like having
to find like screws and duct tape to constantly be modding stuff Like I didn't
find that aspect of the game fund it's pretty much lifted from that game wholesale,
and to hear, like the menus for like the modding look almost like
the exact same, yeah, like some color changes and stuff. And so
for me, I'm like, oh, yeah, I didn't really like doing
this and fall fourth, So if you liked that stuff and Fault four,
you're gonna have a great time. Oh I don't know about that, because
like there's so many more materials that you do have to look for in this
game if you want to engage with that stuff. And I spent a good
amount of time like doing the outposts, and because I do like that animal
crossing style aspect of like building out up a place from scratch, like I
love. I was like, oh wow, the view on this planet is
kind of nice and it's habitable, So I'm going to build an outpost here.
And that's kind of how I started to for a review, when I
was like, Okay, I'm going to dig into these systems so I know
what's there, and I liked it. I'm like, oh cool, y,
I'm gonna build this research. So I'm build this room, put a
couch here, chilling, bring my coot crewmates, oh wow. Like little
by little, it starts to feel like, oh, I'm building my own
city and that's cool. And I think there's gonna be some like over time
people are gonna like stretch the limitations of that and do some really cool shit.
But to do it is a lot of fucking work, and it's it's
going to be a lot of mining, which is not fun, and there
there are ways to efficiently mine eventually, like with your outpost and with your
crewmates, but you've got to figure those systems out. But also managing those
resources is a nightmare because they've like the menus in the inventory management. This
game has never evolved in the over the past couple of games, so you're
still dealing with old systems to try new things. And there's a disconnect between
the UX, like the user experience, Like you built out this pretty cool
system and I want to see I want to. I want to I want
to see it through, but you're not letting me engage with that in a
way that is enjoyable. And I think that's unfortunate that a lot of those
old design decisions still kind of haunt Starfield in a way. There's one shining
light, I think in those systems, which is building spaceships. Oh yeah,
I went down a rabbit hole building spaceships. So building spaceships is the
one thing in the game that is just straight credits, like, you don't
you don't need to mind to build your space ship. And the UI is
a little hard to get used to it first, but once you sort of
understand how it works, Like mass selecting and swapping out ship parts becomes actually
very quick and easy. And like I built like something that was like a
budget millennium Falcon, but it yeah, yeah, because the shipbuilding was actually
I really did enjoy its pretty cool ship. Yeah, And most of the
stuff in the game is you can have it on your ship. So if
you don't, if you nope straight out of like out post building and stuff
and you don't want to engage with, yeah, you can have all that
stuff auditing, like it can all be it can all be on your ship,
so you can actually opt out of it. It's like you probably don't
get to do certain things in the game if you opt out. But ship
shipbuilding, I think was a highlight. Yeah, that's a fantasy that I
feel like a game has never quite managed to capture before until this one.
And like it's cool that like you can have a crew on your ship.
And I don't really like do all that much, to be fair, but
it is kind of cool to like have a bunch of people on your ship
walking around and you're like feel like, oh, like I'm putting together like
a my own rag tag team. And but you know, in reality.
They're just like they're chilling. They're just chilling, Hey, what's up?
And you're like, I got a sandwich for you. You that those motherfucker's
love giving you something to tell you. I think I don't know if it's
a I don't know if it's a racial thing. But they keep giving me
rice dishes. I'm like, I think this game did a racial profile on
me. But also I'm not getting bangers and mash Like, yeah, I
guess something called an alien sandwich. I'm like, what does that mean?
Yeah, it's like what is what? What is? It? Did?
Like kill a bug on a planet? Turned that shi into a burger or
something. The best part of that, though, was like when they get
mad at you, like, oh you did some murders. I don't like
you anymore. You back out and then you engage in their conversations are like
half a sandwich. Yeah that's uh yeah, And that kind of goes back
to one thing we mentioned. It's like the way NPCs react the wild shit
that you do is just bizarre. Yeah, Sam, it's very like simulation,
E like just breaking down like I'm not gonna lie. There's probably a
theme here, but in order to like level the ship, I might have
done some murders because the game didn't give me other choice. Gotta do what
you gotta do. And so Sam, who's like a ranger, got super
mad about it. But then a couple of missions later, we're trying to
stealth and I just swear to got it with Sam. Sam was a guy
that that broke the stealth and then he just starts straight executing like level one
corporate dude, savage bro, Like, what the hell? Sam? Yeah?
Yeah, this is like because of the way this you see, how
you say, you see right through how the systems work, it does break
that idea of like a consistency across how NPCs and other characters react to you
and react to the world. And just like all right, I've seen like
I get it, I get it. It's fine. But also this is
just like really bizarre for a game that also tries to be kind of clean
cut in a way. Yeah, you know, like when you go through
the main story and in some of these quests where it's just like this virtuous
vibe of like we're doing something great in the galaxy. Also we're just fucking
murdering what the fuck is? Because that's what you gotta do. They even
have an express line when you first arrive at the Lodge, which is where
Constellation is based, where the leader of the Constellation, Sarah says basically she
goes, oh, by the way, like you can do fucking anything,
like we don't give a shit. Oh yeah, like as long as it
doesn't like fuck with us finding these artifacts, like we are totally down with
you doing whatever. And yeah, the game isn't it's like just again,
it's it's it's it's that thing that I bring up with bulls Gate three.
That game is always the world and the characters are always reacting to everything that
happens, no matter how minute it is, and it allows you to open
up paths. You know, I'm sure when you when when you know Sam
with you, Aaron was very disgruntled that you'd been doing these murders. It
brought up a thing in the corner that said Sam is upset. But did
he did he did his behavior change towards you? Probably not. Did the
conversations you have changed with him? No? Like that that that example I
gave earlier of where I lie. You know, I lied to this one
faction in you know, I at least was planning to lie to one faction
in order to help the other and like use it against against them. The
companion I was with at the time, like it said, Sarah is upset,
and she had a little comment like I didn't like that or whatever,
but I you know, again, I was trying to do a playthrough.
I'm really role playing, So I was like, no, I want I
don't want her to think like I'm siding with these corporate pieces of shit.
I'm side with refugees. So I went up to her to thinking that that
would open up a branch of dialogue where we could discuss her feelings on the
matter. And I brought it up and it was the same dialogue options as
I had had the whole game, and I there was no threat there with
this moment that apparently she was upset with. So I'm thinking, like,
what does this system even matter? You know, And yeah, it's it's
it's unfortunate that it's like that Persuasion is a skill tree you have to unlock,
so like you could miss that. But even then it's you know,
they're like, oh, I'm super mad at you for murders. You're like
persuasion past, They're like I'm not mad at you anymore for murders. Persuasion
stuff, to me is the weakest writing in the game because it's it's a
mix of like generic persuasive sentences like you want to help me, don't you,
and like things that are specific to the person you're talking to, but
the person you're talking to will be like, I'm never going to tell you
where the money is, and then you'll be like come on, and then
they'll be like making a great point. That is where you know it's it's
something where it's it's I'm sure it's difficult to balance, right, you You
want to have these systems where you someone is steadfast in their opinion, and
the amount of dialogue in the game, like it's got to be tough to
make that feel natural, but it is so far from feeling natural that it's
like just scrap this system, like it's it's it's so it's ludicrously bad in
places. Yeah, it's like yeah, and even with like the audio auto
persuade, like if you make it far enough in that skill tree, yeah,
you just start saying shit like click click click, click, all right
past past it, and there's like yeah, yeah, the the funniest shit
is like one of the main quests where you have to like engage with the
space pirates and they they're holding onto this artifact and because you're supposed to collect
them, and they're just like, oh, I'm never gonna sell this.
There is nothing money cannot buy this thing. This thing I am. I
am defending this with my life. You like, I'm cool with you,
but if you try and touch it, I'm gonna blast you away. And
then you're like, yeah, but I really need it, Like huh damn.
I never thought of it like that. And it's like, hey,
actually, you know what, it's all yours fun Come on, man,
yeah, it's but you know, it is what it is. Tommy,
you're talking a lot about Balder's Gate three, and that's like it's a it's
a strong comparison. I would even trace that back to again, like following
New Vegas. Again it's Obsidian, but Obsidian found a way to extract the
most from that framework, and that games thirteen years old at this point,
so in a way I would had even with Fallout four, I had like
hope it's like, oh, I hope they took away some of the lessons
from New Vegas because that game was very, very strong and many regards that's
not what Fallout four was. I'm like, okay, cool, they're just
building a different game. This is just a direct line from follow three.
It's mine. But with Starfield that has that is you know, it's been
so long since then, and I feel like, uh, you know,
there are lessons that can be learned that can be integrated into this. And
when I when your time, you're talking about like, I'm gonna say this
to this person, so I can just kind of skate by but actually do
the thing that I intend on doing. New Vegas. Lets you do that
so often, and it's it's the the way in which they've manipulated the in
game systems in such a such a wild way where you can role play,
you can be a conniving person in that game and get away with some real
wild shit. And so yeah, when when you when I think about that
experience, when I think about that game and then go to Starfield that is
more concerned with kind of impressing you with the fidelity and the scale and all
the all the planets, it's kind of like they left the most important part
on by the wayside, and maybe maybe that's just like to make the game
a little bit more digestible for a broader audience who might not be necessarily poking
at the game in that same way. But as as rpg SICKO, who's
played almost like pretty much every one of these bes RPGs, it's like,
in a way, it's it feels like regression to where I'm not necessarily and
part of me is wowed by the fact that I can go to these planets.
I love that shit. I'm like, in a way, I'm like
a very much like a aerospace nerd in that way. And I mentioned that
in my review, and I love that shit. But I think that the
as big as the universe is, it kind of doesn't necessarily matter how big
it is if it doesn't have the heart that is going to connect me to
that universe right in a way, And like, even though New Vegas is
such a such a dark place, like that this bat shit happens all the
time in New Vegas, there's still that that that human thread that connects me
to that world. Like, Yo, Caesar's Legion is some crazy shit.
The NCR is a bunch of fucking corrupt government officials. Only crap Brotherhood to
Steal is struggling. Also, they got some wild ideas too. It's like,
oh, I'm getting involved in some really deep shit and I don't feel
like that is I haven't. I haven't come across anything like that in the
fifty five hours that I played Starfield, and that leaves me hungry, Like
I'm still hungry after playing something like damn, yeah shit, I'm still looking
for that. You guys feel about it. But I also feel like maybe
their version of space lacks like a identity to me. That kind of made
me feel like, I don't know, like there are it's harder to explain,
but like I'm thinking about like their version of like this is what space
is like, and this is like the and to me, it's just a
collection of like different tropes. But none of it felt like there's something that
I can say, like, oh, yeah, that's a star Field specific
thing, and what I mean by that is like, so we got like
New Atlantis is like that's the clean city, like the Citadel. A lot
of the aesthetic is weirdly borrowing from I feel like like d S X Human
Revolution, Like there's like a honeycomb thing with some of the designs and then
and then there's other planets. So there's like, uh, there's Neon,
which is like cyberpunk drenched, and then there's like the I forget the is
that the Free Star? Like that's old the Old West style. That kind
of feels like I would took a little fall out flavor and or threw it
in there. And I'm again like the idea of like, well, it's
a big galaxy, so obviously there's gonna be all these different planets and vibes.
But I don't know, I just for me, there wasn't a like
connective like yeah, this is like a very I don't know, it just
didn't have that like hook. Like what I like about Elder Scrolls is I
do think it has like its own distinct like vibe and energy that there's a
lot of culture. Yes you don't. Maybe that's it. Maybe it's the
lack of like identifiable culture because in like a sky Rim, you're like you
have the Nords and like the way they feel, and you have like the
civil war with the Imperials, and it's like, oh, I feel bad
for the Nords, but also then they're like Hella races against the dark Elves
and the dark elves are doing their own thing, and you have like the
ancient you know, dwarf in like ruins that you're like finding and the dragons,
like there's there's the day drinks, right, and like there's just all
this like lore and to be fair, like that has been built up over
years and years and years of those games. But like to me, like
The Eldest Girls has such like a unique identity to it, and then fall
Out obviously has its own kind of unique identity. And I'm not really sure
what the identity of this game is other than like here's a bunch of different
space together. Every element is like the generic version of the thing. So
it's like, yeah, it's like a Keyla City is Cowboy world and everyone
here is a cowboy. And then New Atlantis is this Yeah, as you
said, it's the clean corporate world where everyone is in this like very like
plane attire. And then you have Neon, which is like literally like if
you took like bits of cyberpunk and stuck it in an oil rig. That
that that is the problem is because it isn't trying. It isn't it can't
focus. The game can't focus on just making Skyrim, which is like this
small sliver of this one continent or fall out where it is it is this
unique post apocalyptic world. It's just like this is the future of humans and
space and there's a bunch of different archetypes and that that's something that does entice
me in moments with the game of like sure being able to go and experience
something that does feel feel different, but it is so surface. It is
just very generic version of that thing. The Crimson Fleet, as cool as
all of that stuff with them is, and that some of the characters and
there are cool, there's nothing that makes them distinctly like this is these are
the pirates of Staffield. It is just like, no, these are space
pirates. Have you've seen a space pirate? This is them, you know?
Y oh man, Yeah, that's such That's such a good way of
putting it. Yeah, yeah, that's That's also like what I was trying
to trying to get out of my in my review too, is that yeah,
they just it feels like they've just blended all the sci fi things that
we've seen many times and they just said fuck it. It's just these are
the different planets, are just the cities that they that are built on them
and that that's it. Like it feels intentional, almost like they're trying to
appeal to everyone by being like, what do you want? Do you want
Cowboys Space? Well, there's a whole planet for you. Do you want
Cyberpunk space, here's that planet for you. Like they're trying to like give
everyone, I guess, like an option, which I guess is kind of
cool, but it does make the game as a whole. It's like we
keep saying, like everything feels like disconnected and disjointed. It's not like there's
this cohesive vision. It's more like you got the one planet and this planet,
and they feel so separate from each other. I'll tell you what that
results. And you're just flying. You're like, he's got the best vendors.
Sure to the landing. Unfortunately, this game doesn't have any way to
understand where anything is or get into that part. I feel like this is
maybe actually the most egregious part about this game. This is the most modeble
too, Like I feel like this get fixed pretty quick. We were talking
about how like a good example this was how I there there's an intro planet
you go to that they make you go to, and I went to it
and you know, did the thing. And I was like, oh,
that's fine. Left and I was talking with Jake Decker about it, and
he was like, oh, I stayed on that planet and explored and found
some cool stuff. And I was like, oh cool, I'm gonna go
back to that planet. Could not fucking find that, like holy shit,
Like there's no way to find it, like unless you happen to remember exactly
like what system it is you It's it's like a mess, like I don't
know how you're supposed to like find keep track of things, how you're supposed
to find because it's so big and there's no way to like favorite a thing
or like bookmark stuff. It can't like pull up a list of places you've
already visited, unless unless you have a quest for that location. Then you'll
get the way points to that. Yeah. But otherwise, like for a
while, when I was done with the main story stuff on Neon It,
I never was never went back until I found a side quest that led me
back there because I forgot where the fuck that place was. Yeah, it's
in the system, all right, I know that put that in the guy.
And even in those big cities like New Atlantis, is huge for like
a Bethesda city. It's it's like way bigger than any city they've made.
And that's cool. And I will like, was like, wow, I
feel like the city goes on forever and there's so much like places to visit
in shops, and that was cool. There's no map. Yeah, you're
telling me three years in the future on the greatest built in the galaxy.
Y'all. Motherfucker's don't got maps. I have my iPhone two. I could
pull that ship up and now we get the map of the entire fucking world.
Oh my god. It's like like like you when you pull up like
the planet's surface map, it's just I don't know, it's like a typography
type grid and with just like extremely unhelpful. It makes super unhelpful. Makes
you think that you have to clear a fog of war. That's what I
thought. I was like, that's what I started to go somewhere to clear
to show the area, and then I that there is no option for that,
and I was like, oh, this is just what it looks like.
Why why are you going to do this? I was like, is
there something in the skill tree that unlocks map reading or something like home and
it's like I kind of get that on like the randomly generated planets, but
when it's a city with all these shops like the like, unless there was
a quest telling me exactly where to go, Like if you were to ask
me like, yeah, go go to this shop because they saw the best
stuff, I'd be like, I'll never find find that. I will never
find Oh my god. Huge, And it's it's impressive how big it is.
But like you're I'm like, I'm not gonna learn this city by like
my memory, like absolutely not. So it's saying how how big it is
becomes a problem though, Yeah, because you said this, Like I think
you said an email, but you mentioned cell phones. I'm running with that.
Okay, so many of the things in this game, the quest could
have been a phone call. It's like, you're going to play it.
They're like, I got a problem with this other person. Go talk to
the other person. You're like, gosh it, okay, fast travel to
my ship loading orbit, go talk to this person. They're like, nah,
I don't agree with what that person said. Go back to deliver the
message to them. That two or three times, and I just gave up
on the question. I'm like get a cell phone. For god, they
do make a comment. There was a character who made a comment to me
about like, uh, faster than like communication hasn't been invented yet, so
and still we do that, Like couriers will always exist. Grab jump this
letter, motherfucker, but grab jump drive on a telephone pole. Yeah,
I do not care. That was That was my favorite comment Aaron had when
he's like, can we just call people and they were like, well,
this hasn't been invented. You're like, just stick a grab drive on the
phone. I will build this for you. In the Spaceship Builder, I
will build a telephone spaceship. It leads a weird video video gaming things that
she's like don't make sense. Like I ran to a woman on a space
station and she was like, again everyone just wants me to like get them
a drink for some reason. And she was like, man, I really
miss this one beer at this bar in New Atlantis. Can you go get
me that? And I'm like, why the fuck would I waste my precious
like star fuel that costs like millions of credits to get you one beer and
like come back like special special, that's special beer. Oh my god.
Yeah, it's yeah the way they try to yeah, go ahead of the
simple stuff like that where it's like I came across the ship that was like
basically space ups and they're like, oh, we've got some engine fit.
You know, they hail you, which is novel. I do like the
hailing and there's been some fun like conversations and moments that have come from that.
What they call you over the intercom. But they call me over They're
like, hey, we're space ups, like we got we go to packaging.
It's delivering real quick. And I was like, all right, what
do you want to do about it? And they're like, could you deliver
it to the guy? And I was like, I'm pretty sure this is
breaking some space space Osha rules, but okay, I'll do it for you.
And in my head I was like, great, thanks for giving me
that. I'm going to go sell this precious thing. Nope, can't do
any I have to now deliver this thing to this guy. I'm committed to
taking this box of whiskey to this guy on this random planet. It won't
let me sell it, it won't let me it won't even let me take
it off of my person. I can't even store it in my ship to
make space. It's stuck on my body because it's a quest item, and
I'm like, how have we not moved on from this kind of design?
Uh? Yeah, it's there's a lot of stuff. You should be able
just sell that stuff. I should just be able to like him. Yeah
next time, yeah, next time they see you, Like what happened to
my package? Like, oh fuck, I guess I'm getting in a fight
because I sold their whiskey? Like that would be a it would be great.
It's like Space Up, yeah, like you sold it and then your
flight because there is a moment where I kind of betray This is part of
the Crimson Fleet quest line. There isn't you get to a point where you
can kind of betray someone and get them kind of kicked out of the pirates
and now like I'm gonna come find you, like one day when you're not
least and like literally like I grab jumped into a system like hours and hours
later in the gameplay, and this guy has created his own mini fleet and
he shows up to like out of nowhere to fuck you up, and like
Space Ups could have done that, Like if I'd never delivered it. They
showed up and they're like, hey, like we can track you because of
the like with space ups, like when we have our own security force and
you have to like give us the money you like pay for the item or
whatever, Like why is that system not in there? Yeah? I feel
you on that, and like, you know, it's I don't necessarily as
like backseat developing more so as it's like we've we've seen these systems, how
the limit, like the how you can stretch these systems to do interesting things.
But you know, there's there's disappointment in the fact that it is not
fully thought out in a game that is as big and kind of grand as
Starfield purports itself to be. So I definitely, you know feel like,
damn, there's there's there's missing that emergent that those water cooler moments I think
are are missing. And I mean when when you know, when Elder Scrolls
games come out, there's you know, there are water cooler moments like Oh,
I'm gonna go check out that thing that you mentioned. I'm gonna see
that. There's a little bit out of that with Starfield, mostly because it's
hard to find those things and I'm glad that like, oh shit, Aaron,
you found that quest. I want to, I want to, I
want to do that. But yeah, it's the game just it's it's hard
at it doesn't necessarily shuffle you there. It's it's on rails. You can
see things happening, but the game doesn't leave the trail of breadcrumbs that other
games in the past have done a lot better. And I guess the whole
I guess the Going back to the thing about the vibe of this game,
I think a lot about mass Effect one, a game that came out in
two thousand and seven, Uh, something as simple as like the Codex and
mass Effect. It was so mass it was like that's a revelation. You
have this this guy speaking to you, and like, yeah, the first
Contact war was this just and that with the Turians and rebur indoctrination. Like
hell yeah, dude, I love that ship. Build this world for me
in a very concise way, so I have a grasp of who I am
and what I'm doing in this world and what I'm getting involved in. And
Masspectors said like it masspect is like it doesn't have necessarily the breadth that that
Starfield has, And you know, they're very different games. But when I
think about what we're talking about, how each planet or each city, it's
just kind of these one off encapsulations of whatever sci fi trope that we've seen
in the past. Mass Effect has this through line where every no matter what
planet you'd go on, whatever, no matter what city you've gone, if
you go back to the citadel, there's a consistency and how all these civilizations
interact, how they live. They're very different from one from one another,
but you get a sense that like, oh, these are all of these
cultures, all these society these do interact with each other on some level and
have shared values and have shared technologies, and when they don't, it's a
very stark contrast. And there's story elements to build that out. So,
you know, an old RPG like Mass Effect has such a grand sense of
dare I say, world building, and there's like such a distinct sci fi
vibe that even and when you're going through sterile like spaceships or Darillic spaceships,
or landing on a remote plan or whatever, there's it all feeds into this
sense of discovery or the sense of interconnectedness between all the different elements that the
game is trying to sell you on, and like the central conflict is something
that is super easy to buy into. These super super bad guys want to
destroy the world. Cool, but it's all about how you how you build
that journey and like how you get there and what do the villains have to
say. I remember in mass spect one on Vermeier when I'm speaking to Sovereign
and this it was just like this chilling moment where I'm like, I'm talking
to the villains and I'm getting their perspective and feels like this really otherworldly experience
where oh shit, like this is this can change the course of this game's
world, and it does throughout the rest of the series. When you reach
that moment in Starfield, it's kind of like laughable, It's it's almost funny
in a way where this game is trying to take itself so seriously with these
out of like these out of other worldly concepts, and I'm like, none
of this ship is making any sense. And and of course there's going to
be an element of supernatural to it, or you know, to to kind
of fill in the gaps for the sci fi world, there's going to be
an element of supernatural to it. But the way that they do in this
game is so fucking ridiculous that I'm just like throw my hands up and I'm
like, all right, y'all just making shit up now, and yeah,
and I think that that is that is kind of why. Like I know
that the main story isn't the main course in a game like this, but
I think the main story is supposed to set the stage for everything else.
We'll think about like Skyrin, how like the main stories about the dragons,
and it set up very early. You know, you were dragon born.
Dragons are invading. They haven't been there any You can ignore the main story,
but like, dude, there's fucking dragons wandering around everywhere and like burning
people alive, and everyone like talks about it like there is a very clear
like this is affecting the world, you know, and like nothing like no
one in outside of like the main quest, like even knows that that main
quest is happening or that it has any consequences to literally anything, because it's
just like it's it's just kind of its own weird thing off to the side,
right, y'a is doing that artifact ship over there whatever, yea,
And the characters will be like, yo, this is this discovery is going
to change the course of history, and I'm like, is it though?
Really didn't? Like no one else cares outside of us. They might invent
cellphones, y'all, maybe they can start talking to each as in my iPhone
too. That to Earth? Nah? And uh, I guess like one
more thing is about like the science part of it, because the game does
pay reverence to things like you know, NASA and space early space travel in
our in human history. But once you start to uncover the threads of like
oh, the deep lore about like how everyone ended up in space, it
is it is really really weak. It's like it it feels like very little
thought was put into building that aspect that should have been like a big relevant
revelatory moment where like, oh my god, I uncovered the truth about why
Earth is like a barren planet and and reality. Once you get like the
audiologs and do the mission that that takes you through that it's kind of like,
really, this is what this is what fucked up Earthling? All right?
I guess like I feel like we could have solved that problem very easily.
Or the thing about like going to Earth too, I'm like, where
the fuck is everything? And I know that humanity has abandoned it completely,
but you know, it's like why is the entire world a desert? Like
where's the ruins, where's the Like it's just another procedurally generated planet, and
man, it kind of leans it a thing. I was gonna ask you
guys, like have you just like landed on a random planet to like see
what that experience is like, because I was like, Okay, that's supposed
to be a thing. Let me give that a shot, like you know,
land down and it's like it's fine. I guess, I don't know,
like I there wasn't anything particularly interesting to do, like I like initially
because it's like they kind of make a whole thing about it where there's like
a whole tree you can go down where you're like, oh you you could
be like a zoologist and you can like planet scan and like it's almost like
you can role play like a person who's like I'm gonna discover you know,
uninhabited planets and and mark them and you know, catalog everything, and you
can do that. You can go up and like scan plant plants and animals,
which is fine kind of gets after a while, but I don't know,
you just kind of go there and you're just like scan that, scan
that, and then you're like okay, yeah, and it's like there's there
will so they'll be uh, little objectives that are like, hey, this
thing's unknown, go check out what that is, and you'll like okay,
And at least in my experience, I never found anything interesting like I found
one time. I found like a cave with all these like crystals coming out,
and I was like, oh, I'm gonna go in this cave and
I go in the cave and there's a couple bug aliens there and I shoot
them and like that was kind of it. Like the cave just had nothing
in it, and I was like, there's no I was like, there's
no like everywhere of the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah, those are
the lock picks of the world. And I know that stuff was probably procedurally
generated, but it really feels that way because it's just like I'm not sure,
Like I just stopped going to them because I'm like there was nothing in
them, Like there's nothing exciting to find or do. I'm just kind of
wandering around this like we generated planet and like it looks nice and it looks
you know, it's like Yep, your procedural generation tech has has gotten better,
but it's still there's still nothing there, still serving the same purpose yet.
Yeah. So yeah, and it like you do it three or four
or five times, you're like, well, I'm not going to do this
again because I've learned from the past five times that I did it that there's
nothing there. So there will be someone who will planet in the game.
And I'm I hope that person is that's what that's what's sapped, man.
But it's it's also important to say that that there's no rover in the game.
Oh yeah, so like you're doing the shit off foot, so you're
doing it on foot. Like they there's a lot of invention. They de
invented some things in this world. No maps. Yeah, I is shocked.
I really thought like there must be like an upgrade you get to get
like a rover or something like a story moment, we're like, hey,
we're giving you a car. Yeah, take everywhere. I'll take a horse
even at this point, like something, just take a horse from Skyrin,
just put it in, just go off. I think since there's a reason
for that, and that's like all the areas are really constrained yeah, and
so I think if you had a rover, you would break the game pretty
quick. So maybe like I showed up in Orbits and pirates try to get
me, and I was like I played X Wing as a kid. I
know what to do here. Everything into engines, just book it right,
and the planet never got any closer. Oh yeah, like nothing happened,
Like I just I was flying and flying and flying, and the pirates are
getting further and further way and their chatter was the same. But at a
certain point of the game is broke because it didn't it like the pirates couldn't
get to me, but I couldn't fly anywhere and the planet didn't move,
so like you're stuck. Yeah yeah, So I think that's why there isn't
a rover, or I think they really need you to hot foot it like
somewhere, because if you went there quick and then tried to go past it,
I have a strong feeling you would just oh yeah yeah, like hit
the border of the And again it's like I get that it's probably a technical
limitation, but it is just so much less impressive when you realize that,
like the planet in front of you is basically just like a floating jpeg and
it's like actually like a thing, especially because you play something like No Man's
Sky where it's like no, you can like seamlessly like land and take off
and like you know, like enter the atmosphere. Like again, they're different
games. I get it, And but it's like that that is that feeling
is so like powerful in a game like that, and when you realize like
you can't do that, and again it's like it's just you activate the loading
screen, you know, it's like, oh, like that's it doesn't it
does? It does take away from the the novelty of Yes. Yeah,
like I said, I still like seeing planets, looking at the data sheets
and seeing it in my view when I when I, when I, when
I grab jump there. They're very nice JPEGs, very nice. That ship
is high res. I'll tell you how much I did that shit in four
Cam I PC. But it's a good looking games, real good JPEGs.
But yeah, like when you are doing the ship combat, and I enjoy
the ship combat actually was as I got deeper into it. What we're talking
about ship customization. I do like some of the dog fights you get into
where because you have to really think about the angle at which you come at
your enemies and out maneuver them in a way so you can get good shots,
take down their shield, make sure you load them up with missiles before
their shield rejects. Stealthed by like going a little you can put the engines
low, yeah, prep it and be like all right, I'm gonna get
ready wait for them to get the right moment. It was amazing the targeting
system. It was amazing playing on the stream. We had to play from
the beginning of the games. So I went back to the basic Frontier ship,
and I was like very like impressed with how different I was so used
to playing the Razor Leaf ship, and I like, which is like mudded
in different ways and like much sleeker. The way it turns is quaker and
stuff like that. And I was trying to get into a dog fight and
I was set on stream. I was like I got this, Like I'm
told like, I've gone so good at dog fighting, and then like I'm
trying to I'm trying to do the thing that I do in my Razor Leaf,
which is I fly straight at the person the moment I kind of like
start to get under them. I'm already turning behind them and like trying to
do that in the frontier, like I got to feel the ship like fighting
me. I was like, I can't do this turn, and I was
like, that's really cool, Like and I wish that that level of like
there's a little just a little tweak here, and it completely kind of changes
how the game feels. Was something that was apparent in the rest of the
game, but it's really in these like little pockets and little systems that you
can feel stuff like that. Yeah, the ship combat once again, like
building, once you get once you understand what the game is asking you to
do, it gets fun. It gets really fun. Oh yeah, Yeah,
It's definitely definitely one of the highlights for sure, especially like the main
Quest has some dog fights in it has some really tough ones too, like
if you don't invest in piloting skills or upgrades for your ship, you might
run into a wall with that stuff. And I was like, oh,
okay, cool. The game is pushing back against me and saying, hey,
you have to engage with this system, and I kind of like that
and it's like, okay, well then I'm going to do that. And
then oh I discovered that I actually enjoy tweaking with this stuff, and I'm
gonna start buying ships and modding them and doing like like moving things around.
Actually, oh, I could build a hub out of this ship. So
like the ship stuff is like legitimately very good. There are some quest lines
that you get into, some like fleet style battles, and that ship is
really really cool. I wish there was more of it, because I do
think it is well done. It's pretty simple, like overall, it's like,
hey, just shoot shoot these targets down. That's it. But I
think that the when the game gets when those things get difficult, when you
start to like die and reload and we're like, okay, well then I
should come at this angle. Maybe I shouldn't come in so strong. I
could turn down my engines here whatever. And then the way you allocate the
different the way you allocate resources two different parts of your ship, Like,
oh, it was frustrating at first, but once I like understood, once
I got to grasp him, like, this is actually a fascinating system.
So I like, I do love that aspect of the game, and I
want to see more of it. I hope, like, as I poke
more through this game that I do encounter more bigger ship combat scenarios because that
is that is one of the strengths of this game, so I definitely give
it props for that. You can also disable an enemy ship, board it,
fight your way to the cockpit, and then steal it, which is
kind of cool. That is sick. I did that once and I was
like, oh, okay, okay, honestly, like their ships suck,
but I'll still do it. Honestly. The ship like being on the ships
and the space stations, like I think like that's some of the best content
in the game is when is those like the like not even just boarding random
ships, but like the space stations or like transports, Like a lot of
the Crimson Fleet stuff takes place on ships. Outside of like the there's there's
a bit where you're on a planet, but all of the other things like
take place on ships, and I think it's one of those things where they
can literally force you into a corridor, so they have a lot more control
over what you're seeing, on what you're doing, and can create some interesting
things out of that. It's it's one of the game's more out in the
open and these environments that it feels a bit more generic. And it was
funny because I after twenty hours of playing, I came to the realization I
was like, I've been on a lot of ships, like like I haven't
been to Betty planets. Like I'm just on ships a lot of the time.
And so and you know, the cool thing is is like you know,
if I'm sure Michael, like if you get really deep into that,
like maybe stuff Field is a game that you start to really really enjoy and
you're like, well I just do ship stuff, like I just fly and
like dolls and piracy and all that. So that there is that aspect where
you can make do a bunch of kind of different things and make this game
what you will of it. So yeah, So it's the ship stuff isn't
surprisingly impressive? I think, Yeah, yeah, And that's like one of
the quest lines actually one of the best set pieces. It takes place on
a big ship, where like Tom you mentioned it perfectly, like the controlled
set pieces that they can do on these ships because they are in tighter spaces
and like as you uncover, like oh what happened to this crew? Ye
get the audio logs and like, oh no, the security systems are going
off. Now I'm fighting a bunch of robots, and then I make it
to a certain point in that quest linees like oh, now the ship is
going down and now I'm like fighting robots while it's burning down and I'm trying
to escape. And then now the my my my like status, I'm burning
now, so I'm losing health and I'm worried about like running out of Yeah,
i just collected all of the ship and I'm over and covered so i
can't sprint, but also I'm burning to death and I have to use these
items like those Yeah my god, yeah there there there are moments where they
do bring all these systems together. I'm just like, yes, this is
that good shit. So you know, I mean we spent a lot of
time like dissecting some of the some of the flaws in our experience, but
and we also you know, we talked a lot about the things that we
did enjoy. But you know, all in all, it's there, Oh
it does these things really really great, and it's like, oh wow,
they've really missed the mark on all of these other things. So any we've
already seen a variation in the opinions out there, which is which is cool
to see. I enjoy I enjoy that aspect of it. And it also
depends on like what do you put them most weight and when you go into
this game, because some people be like, funk, what happens in the
main story. I'm here to do some bullshit and maybe you can run into
some good bullshit and be like, Yep, this is the game for me
totally. Yeah. I think more so than because it's a game that's less
about a Curia experience and more trying to offer everything, Like it is going
to create situations where you wanted to do this one thing and it does it
well, and so you're like, cool, it's my game of the year
because it lets me do this one specific thing really well, deliver coffee and
that. Yeah. Yeah, And like, as someone who reviewed, it's
like I feel obligated to engage with everything, so I have, Yeah,
of course, so I try to see everything through to as much an extent
as I can in the period that I have the game. So it is
you know, I feel like I've took a more comprehensive approach to playing the
game, and many other people will. But if you you know, if
you if you play this game, you free ex site for it by all
means like jump into it because like, again, you know, there are
a lot of I have a lot of problems with the game, but overall,
I still enjoyed my experience. It's seven out tend is good. And
yeah, I thought about him like, yeah, that's you know, I
would I'm I'm glad that I played this game because there was there were some
really cool shit and like things I had to push against and flaws that I
really like really came to surface. But you know what, I'm glad I
saw it through, had a lot, had some had I would say I
had a lot of fun with it, and I imagine many other folks will
too. So you know, just think about that when you look at the
you know, don't just be looking at them scores. Buddy. You know,
I've rolled two thousand words about this thing. You know, I'll say
I've put a lot of time and efforts to the So yeah, I agree,
people's experience will probably very pretty wildly. Yeah, I like that.
I think so like Tom. Tom, you know, we were talking the
whole time we were playing this game, and Tom was like, oh man,
I like really like this game. I'm doing all this cool stuff and
and a lot of us were just like, okay, where where do I
go? Tell me where that is? Like a lot of you. You
had set me on the path with the Mentis mission, which is one of
the earlier like side things that you can do, and you're the one that
brought that up, and that was the beginning. Like I was like,
Okay, I'm gonna do that first because when it crops up, I'll do
it. And that led me down the path that I went on. So
it was funny to me that you were like, I'm not finding anything interesting.
I was like, but you told me about this thing. Yeah,
that's the thing. Meanwhile, my experience was I got to New Atlanta and
said, all right, I'm gonna really explore this this you know city and
see what I can find. And like I was just finding duds and having
no luck taking bad elsa els, And it's like I should have been doing
the ship stuff the whole time. You are if you are very burnt by
that, you are you there's there's a trauma response. I'm let me even
something like this was even more so the whole thing with that coffee thing was
I met a guy and he's like telling me about how he's like got like
this girlfriend and he wants to like buy her a ring and get her and
like marry her and leave the planet. And I'm like all right, dude,
like whatever, like he's just telling me this stuff, and I'm like,
okay, is this like a quest, like but it's not a quest.
He was just telling me that, and I was like thanks, cool,
yeah, exactly. And then later I run into this janitor's is like
sweeping up and I like talk to her because I'm just like, hey,
you got anything interesting to say? And then she's, uh, the one
who asked me to get the coffee. And then when I got her the
coffee, she's like, oh yeah, me and my boyfriend loved this coffee.
She starts talking and I realized she's the girlfriend of the other guy,
and my brain was like, oh connection, Oh is this going to lead
to something? Nope, the fucking lead anything. And it's like I like
part of me is like, I guess it's kind of cool that they like
had to have that dialogue, and it kind of I guess makes the world
feel bigger, but like I was still like I want to do something,
like I want to do some fun so like yeah, it just was like
a. I think I just had like a bad roll the dice at the
beginning where where I was like, man, I'm telling nothing's happening here,
and and I agree, Like once I started maybe like engaging more like the
ship stuff and and doing some of those like more bespoke quests, like that's
when I was like, Okay, I'm starting to feel this a little bit
more. Yeah, you know, so I think your people are going to
have an experience like Tom, and I think people are gonna have an experience
like me, you know, where you can just have a you just happen
to pick the wrong thing to focus on. Yeah, like I don't get
this game. Yeah, you'll you'll spend twenty hours in the wrong direction,
and like that will happen to people, So it will happen, I think,
like the I mean, the divisiveness, but just like the variations in
people's experiences will You'll definitely see a lot of that as more and more people
play the game and talk about it. So it's like, yeah, I
think it's it's definitely an interesting game to to talk about and to see other
people experience, just because of like that role of the dice aspect of it
and not in the same way that Balther's Gate is because it's like, holy
fuck, dude, I can't you got away with that? Like, oh
Lazel said that to you. Oh my god, shadow Heart hates me because
I this thing. You like, she did this thing at this one town
and now she's a criminal, but she's like the sweetheart of my life and
this game like that. That's the kind of conversations you have about Balder's game
that I do think there's like I find that more valuable. But I think
also the thing about Starfield is people sharing, like I found this, go
seek that I found this. Don't do that, and yeah, another thing
that there's value. Another thing that this game could stand to borrow from Starfield
is it could stand to be a lot hornier. We have you know,
we we have you know, we have we we have a show that we're
working on behind the scenes, and you know it has to do with like
romance and video games. And bould'st Gates three came out and obviously that became
like a really great thing to tap into, and we were kind of expecting
that to be something on the Starfield side of like, okay, we can
compare it can trast these games and told these games and like the person on
our team who's like working on it is like, so is anyone I liked,
like had any roomance, Like Will was flooding with one of my companions,
but it died out of it. There's there's the there's the dialogue choice
that says flirty and you're like, there's like, oh yeah, this it's
been really crazy, like being on this journey with you, and then you
have the opposite, this flirt and it's like, well, I'm really glad
that you're on this. And then they're like, oh wow, that's crazy
anyway, like we should take care of business, all right, that's it,
Like damn, this is like Starfield is the equivalent of my parents trying
to teach me about the birds and the beach. No, motherfuckers are so
sexless. Come on, man, it's like nobody's getting their back blown out
in Starfield. You hate to see it, but like not that I expected
at but does the games generally are very clean cutting that way, so I
didn't expect that going the Starfield. But in the contrast of where I'm like,
yo, I'm choosing my foreskin and ball just game I'm in Starfield,
Like, I don't know. I guess I'm gonna say something nice to you
and you'll like it, or you won't and we're gonna keep it pushing.
Those are contrasting games, is what I'll say. So you know the vibes.
That was the moment where I realized that it wasn't gonna go anywhere.
But you could dress up your other characters in the Darfield it's you can.
Yeah, I saw that. At least it is that. It was like,
screwed. If we're not having a good relationship here, you're wearing the
dumbest outfit I saw, y'all. Y'all put Sam in some wild what are
the dancer outfits? Yeah, well I'm just gonna enjoy this anyway. That's
what's up? All right, well Field, we can go in for a
little while. Yeah, anyone have any other There's a lot to say about
this game we did. Yeah, I think it feel like, yeah,
I got most of my thoughts of Fields out there. But again, like
check out my review for a little bit more of a focused or not focused
because we focused here. We did some some good talking and debating out here.
But but yeah, that the review is kind of more comprehensive look at
all my thoughts and feelings and my experience with it, and check out the
video review that both Aaron and Jean Luke worked on team work out there with
some capture footage from Tom as Well. Yeah, peep that if you want
to get a full full view of my thoughts for Starfield. Yeah. Yeah,
I think it's gonna I think we've said about it. It's gonna be
one that I'm excited to see other people's opinions on. Honestly. Yeah,
you know, as long as you're like cool about it. I think one
big takeaways if you find yourself having a bad time in this game, don't
be afraid to look up other people's experiences because there are some cool planets,
absolutely, and I think you just need to know where they are, Like
you, Jim, I'll go and tell you. Yeah, so well we'll
tell you where they are. Oh we will. I heard, I'll tell
you where the cool stuff is if you're not finding it. Is actually that
I'd like. Honestly, I wish there was like someone handed me a thing
and said, make sure you check all this stuff out so that well,
we'll have that ready for y'all. If you're gonna jump into starfield. So
yeah, if you do one thing, we'll take it back around. Get
arrested, get arrested, do some light murders and get arrested. You don't
have to, but okay, fine, my ship. That's what happened to
me. Oh that's that. That's what I think. That's what got me
to darn check that contra man. Yeah, yeah, I didn't know you
could not do that. That murder. Oh already, Well, I think
we're gonna call it on this podcast. Thank you for tuning in everyone,
Michael, thank you for being here. Of course, I've always Aaron.
Thank you for coming on. Thank you, and Tom, thank you for
tuning in from from New York as well. It was great getting you on.
We're from New York, are you not not? I'm not the strong,
but so yeah living Yeah, so I actually live in town call north
Bergen. So I'm on the Jersey side of the river. Yeah exactly,
but is quicker than my Brooklyn commute, Eve was. So I'm and I
have Indian laundry, so I'm not complaining. Okay, all right, all
right, flex and honest, yeah, enjoy your San Francisco holding my launcher
down the street. Yeah, well all right, I'm gonna go home do
some laundry. I guess. Oh fu, I gotta do that. I
got some final Fantasy rating to do. So all right, guys, we're
gonna get out of here. For all of you tuning in, thank you
for listening as always, and hey, if you play, start feel this
weekend. I hope you have a good time, hope you hope you enjoy
it. Happy gaming, happy gaming, happy gaming everyone. All right,
enjoy your gaming, enjoy your gaming. Goodbye to read to day to day,
b B to day to day. Bring on day to day.